Ken Julien returns to UTT

Julien will be joined on the UTT board by Professor Clement Imbert (uncle of Finance Minister Colm Imbert); Shivan Ojah Maharaj (a relative of former PNM Toco/Sangre Grande MP Indra Sinanan Ojah-Maharaj); eminent calypsonian Dr Hollis Liverpool (better known as the Chalkdust); Marslyn Melville Jack (principal at Mason Hall Secondary School) and Winston Lalla.

Two other persons are to be added to the list, Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie told reporters yesterday at a Cabinet media briefing where the new board was announced. Julien returns to the same organisation he led under then PNM prime minister Patrick Manning. During his tenure as executive chairman – from 2004 to 2010 — Julien faced questions over his management and further matters arose in relation to use of assets of the UTT and Manning’s reported spiritual adviser Juliana Pena.

A lawsuit brought against Julien and several former directors by the Ministry of the Attorney General was withdrawn earlier this year after the case appeared to collapse. Former Attorney General Garvin Nicholas said the action was taken in light of witness testimony in the case, while his predecessor Anand Ramlogan maintained key matters were left unaddressed. “I think Professor Julien is a well-acknowledged educator and he is someone that has done great service to Trinidad and Tobago,” Cuffie said yesterday. “I know that the issues that were raised in the court case, floundered. It turns out that based on the testimony that the action was not brought by the UTT but was instigated by the then Ministry of the Attorney General. “So I don’t want to speak more about that, but I think Professor Julien came out of that experience with his integrity and reputation intact.” Julien is also a member of the Standing Committee on Energy which is chaired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

The new UTT chairman was the first West Indian Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, UWI St.

Augustine and the first Caribbean national to attain the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA. He was awarded the Trinity Cross in 2003.